▪ I. jurat1
(ˈdʒʊəræt, F. ʒyra)
Also 6 iurate, -att(e, 7–8 jurate.
[ad. med.L. jūrāt-us, lit. ‘sworn man’, n. use of the pa. pple. of jūrāre to swear. In sense 4 a. the equivalent of F. jurat (orig. a Prov. form = F. juré).]
1. One who has taken an oath; a person who performs some duty on oath; spec. one sworn to give information about the crimes committed in his neighbourhood, and in other ways to assist the administration of justice; a juror. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. vii, In iudiciall causes..witnesses and iurates which shall procede in the triall, doo make no lasse othe. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 7 They were thought to have been confederates and Iurates of this newe conspiracy. 1564 in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. xli. 420 To every parish belongeth..Four or eight jurats for offences given and taken. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 104 Aldred the Archbishop..and Hugh the Bishop of London..wrote that which the jurats had delivered. 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 415 The first step the justices in eyre took..was to impanel four jurats from every township, and twelve from every hundred. |
2. A municipal officer (esp. of the Cinque Ports) holding a position similar to that of an alderman.
| 1464 Rolls Parlt. V. 515/2 Provost and Baillif, Jurates men and Burgeis men and their Successours. 1485 Ibid. 338/1 Bailiff and Jurates..of all and every the said v Portes. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xii. xvi. (1886) 209 M. L. Stuppenie, late Jurat of the same towne [New Romney]. 1660 Pepys Diary 7 May, Here were also all the Jurates of the towne of Dover. 1701 in Gentl. Mag. (1818) LXXXVIII. ii. 402 Went to Church [at Gravesend] to which he had seen the Mayor go in procession..attended by his brethren the Jurats, twelve in number. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. vi. 79 A writ of error lies from the mayor and jurats of each port to the lord warden of the cinque ports, in his court of Shepway. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Rye, The corporation..consists of a mayor, 12 jurats, and the freemen. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xxi. 561 If these twenty-five jurats are the predecessors of the twenty-five aldermen of the wards. |
3. In the Channel Islands, one of a body of magistrates, chosen for life, who in conjunction with the Bailiff form the Royal Court for administration of justice; they are ex officio members of the States.
Their number is twelve for each of the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, and six for Alderney.
| [1339 Rolls Parlt. II. 109/2 William Payn, un des Jurez de l'Isle de Gereseye.] 1537 T. Cumptun in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 92 [An] Inventory..made in the presence of the Deane and of too Jurattes of this Isle. 1694 Falle Jersey Pref. B iij b, A Gentleman of Iersey..one of the Iurats of the Royal Court of that Island. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. Introd. §4. 106 All causes are originally determined by their own officers, the bailiffs and jurats of the islands. 1873 J. Lewes Census 1871. 204 Twelve jurats chosen by the members of the ‘States’. |
4. With reference to France, etc.: a. A municipal magistrate in certain towns, as Bordeaux. b. A member of a company or corporation, sworn to see that nothing is done against its statutes.
| 1432 Rolls Parlt. IV. 406/1 The Mair and Juratz of the Toune of Burdeux. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxiii. 85 They of Tourney..made newe prouost, and iurates, acordynge to their auncyent vsages. 1670 Cotton Espernon iii. ix. 420 Upon the Banks of the River Garonne; where the Jurats of Bordeaux came to receive him. 1714 Fr. Bk. Rates 123 The Jurats of the Merchants, wholesale Mercers, and Haberdashers of the City of Paris. 1804 Med. Jrnl. XII. 542, I informed the Jurats, that..my colleague or myself would return to the isle [Malta]. |
▪ II. jurat2 Law.
(ˈdʒʊəræt)
[ad. L. jūrātum that which is sworn, neut. pa. pple. of jūrāre to swear.]
A memorandum as to when, where, and before whom an affidavit is sworn.
| 1796 Reg. Gen., Mich. 37 Geo. III in Term Reports (1802) VII. 82 No affidavit shall be..made use of..in the jurat of which there shall be any interlineation or erasure. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 164/2. 1896 Daily News 4 Aug. 2/6 The proof of the trustees..was not admitted, the jurat being informal. |